What Is the Autistic Neurotype? Rethinking Autism Beyond the DSM

• By: Bernard Grant Writer
• January 23rd, 2026
• ableism, autism as neurotype, autistic culture, autistiphobia, double empathy problem, medicalization of autism, neurodiversity, neuronormativity, social model of disability
• 1067    1

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) defines Autistic people through medicalized criteria that judge Autists from the outside; its diagnostic framework is constructed on allistic (nonautistic) observations, largely without Autistic input. As a result, the dominant...

The Problem with Calling Neurominorities “Neurodiverse”

• By: Bernard Grant Writer
• October 23rd, 2024
• ableism, actually autistic, advocacy, neurodivergence, neurodiversity, neurominorities, Winter 2025 Issue
• 4880    4

Calling individuals neurodiverse spreads neurodiversity lite. Neurodiversity lite is the pathology paradigm in disguise. The pathology paradigm marginalizes/medicalizes neurominorities. Using the word “neurodiverse” to refer to individual people spreads neurodiversity lite...

This is What Autistiphobia Looks Like: Why Autistic Advocacy Matters

• By: Bernard Grant Writer, Editor, and Neurodiversity Advocate
• January 2nd, 2023
• ableism, ableist society, actually autistic, advocacy, attitudinal barriers, bigotry, discrimination, masking, neurodivergence, Winter 2023 Issue
• 13718    2

The Researcher A lot of people do not like Autistic people. Which is a common topic in Autistic spaces. But many allistics who want to advocate with us, as allies, stop talking to me when I mention attitudinal barriers to accessibility. Or else they find creative ways to avoid the...

Demystifying Autistic Gender

• By: Bernard Grant Writer, Editor, and Neurodiversity Advocate
• September 29th, 2022
• actually autistic, autigender, Fall 2022 Issue, gender, gender diversity, gender dysphoria, gender identity, logical thinking, neurodiversity, social constructs
• 8633    2

Search online to learn about Autistic gender and you’ll find a range of allistic (nonautistic) articles stating that the link between autism and gender “diversity” and “dysphoria” are “not so clear.” Researchers apparently “do not yet understand why” there’s a strong correlation...